


lipstick and coffee

by swallowedsong (bookstvnerdlove)



Series: red swan [2]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-22
Updated: 2015-03-28
Packaged: 2018-02-14 06:31:45
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 4,403
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2181543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookstvnerdlove/pseuds/swallowedsong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>collection of red swan ficlets</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. need you here

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Takes place post-curse breaking, but Emma and Snow never went to the Enchanted Forest. Just a short drabble, written for singallyouwant on tumblr.

Emma’s lips feel bruised as Ruby breaks away from her. As their lips un-cling, Emma’s tongue darts out and and can taste her favorite brand of lipstick, the red one that always draws her eye and makes it hard to concentrate.

Sometimes Ruby likes to parade around the station on the afternoons that she (still) comes in to answer phones. She’ll slick her lips with the bright red and perch herself at the corner of Emma’s desk. She likes to rifle through Emma’s paperwork until the other woman glares at her from over whatever file she’s reading, her legs propped up on her desk, long blonde curls flowing down the back of her chair.  

(Graham’s office goes unused. Something that neither of them talk about.)

When the phone rings, Ruby likes to lean over to Emma’s phone and answer it, her flowing shirts gaping loose. She’ll make notes on the little notepad that Emma’s taken to leaving next to the phone, as if she knows that Ruby won’t remain at her desk for long. 

That evening, Emma had been gathering her jacket and her things at the station, on her way to meet Ruby for drinks down at The Rabbit Hole when said woman had stalked into her office and slammed the door. 

"I couldn’t wait," Ruby says as she gets close enough to Emma to pull her in for a kiss. It’s always as exciting as the first time it happened. 

(One night, late at the station, their eyes holding for  _just_ long enough, until Emma leaned in and whispered, “I don’t know what I’m doing.”)

Emma backs into her desk, arms gripping the sides, as Ruby’s hands slide into her hair. They remain that way for moments, hours, like they’ve always been there - lips and teeth, tugging and savoring until they’re both out of breath again. 

Emma pulls away again to say, “I was on my way to meet you, you know.”

"I just really need to have you here," Ruby gasps, voice breathy and wrecked already, teeth tugging at her lower lip. 

"Right now," she continues as she presses Emma further onto the desk, hips gently swaying, as Emma’s legs wrap around Ruby’s waist. 

As Emma shifts enough to free her hands and slide them up, up, up until they reach the hem of Ruby’s shirt, sliding under until she feels the smooth silk and lace that she knows will be bright red, it’s clear they won’t be making it out for drinks tonight.

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> red swan + hot, steamy kiss

_Thwack._

Emma’s files hit the ground with that tell-tale sound of paper on floor. She’d be angry at Ruby (she’s always grabbing Emma’s files and tossing them to the ground when she’s decided that Emma’s done enough work for the night) but she can’t deny that her eyes are tired and she’s been reading for hours on the new case. 

That and the fact that she’s now insanely turned on.

Her stomach flutters as her girlfriend’s hands thread through her hair hitching her legs over Emma’s hips. She exerts just enough pressure to bring Emma’s face close to hers, lips hovering but not yet clinging. Emma can feel the hot breath on her lips and hers part in anticipation. Ruby remains still, though, as a hand drifts gently down to Emma’s neck, her thumb tracing over the pulse point where Emma’s heart is racing out of control. 

Because it’s not enough, this so-close-yet-so far, Emma reaches out to grip the flowing fabric of Ruby’s skirt, their hips pressing together as she chases Ruby’s lips. She plays coy for a second - a terrible, glorious second - until they finally slide together. Lips soft and firm as they cling, Ruby brings her hands to cup Emma’s cheeks, her thumbs tracing gentle circles. 

They cling for minutes before Emma breaks away with a small gasp, and Ruby groans against her lips, whispering, “More.”

Emma laughs as the tables turn, as Ruby’s lips chase her, as Ruby’s hands return to their grip in her hair, tangling in the strands, pulling her closer. 

"Patience," Emma says as she flips their bodies until her body hovers over Ruby’s on the couch, their bodies falling into place as their lips meet aga


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "I thought you were someone else but I’m still glad I kissed you" + r e d s w a n

"Elsa!"

Emma hears a female voice call a name - somebody else’s name - right before a body crashes into hers. Before she realizes what is happening there are lips on hers - lips that taste like cherry chapstick and tequila - and Emma’s leaning into the body, her heart racing, before the other woman quickly pulls back. 

Then a voice, ”Wait! You’re not Elsa.”

Emma’s flustered but manages a lift of her shoulder and a, “No, not Elsa. Sorry?”

The woman (“I’m Ruby, by the way”) slides into the empty space at the bar next to Emma, the space that Emma  _had_  been saving for her friend who was now - she checks her watch discreetly - an hour late. 

"Emma," she says with a half-smile. 

The woman - Ruby - is gorgeous and Emma’s heart still races as she pours the remaining glass of champagne down her throat, trying to cool her pulse and give her a moment to say the awkward thing.

"So…" Emma begins and trails off.

"Oh, no!" Ruby exclaims as she watches Emma carefully, "Elsa’s not my girlfriend. We’re just a friendly bunch. Or, at least, I’m the friendly one."

She takes a quick breath and a sip of her new drink. ”Or at least,” she continues with a raise of her glass, “I’m a bit overly friendly after tequila.”

Before she can stop the words, Emma blurts out, “I hope not  _too much_  tequila?” And her heart skips a quick beat as Ruby’s eyes darken just a bit, just  _enough._

"No," Ruby says as she slides closer to Emma and nudges her shoulder, "Not too much."

"Good," Emma smiles as she also leans closer to Ruby, her skin buzzing as their arms press closer together, neither woman shifting away, even after a moment has passed. 

(The next time they kiss that night, it’s as the bar counts down to midnight. Ruby leans in and - catching Emma off-guard during her count - slides her lips against Emma’s. 

"Why wait until midnight?" She asks later when they break apart, breathless. 

"Why wait, indeed," Emma says as she grabs Ruby’s hand and drags her out the the bar.)


	4. we got the rhythm tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> red swan + “your music is too loud, but you’re playing my favorite song!”

Emma’s new neighbor throws a lot of parties. To be fair, Ruby always stops by a day or two beforehand with a firm knock on Emma’s door, carrying an extra cup of coffee. (And even though she’s never told Ruby her favorite, somehow she shows with the the perfect coffee every time.) Ruby always shrugs, with a toss of her hair and a sheepish quirk of her red lips, and asks if Emma will be bothered by the music and hey, why doesn’t she pop into the party for a bit.

Emma never shows.

It’s not that she doesn’t want to. (Sometimes she thinks that she does, when she hears the music and laughter across the hall.) Sometimes, on nights that she’s not on stakeouts, she makes it to her apartment door even, holding her boots in hand, ready to join the fun before punking out at the last minute. Other times, she can hear the base of the music pumping until the early morning and she jams little orange plugs into her ears while she waits for sleep to claim her.

And it’s not that she minds. Not really, though some nights Emma wonders exactly what Ruby does for a living that allows her to throw wild parties and keep such random hours. (it’s not like she pays attention, though, to the sounds of doors opening and closing. Of course not, that would be silly.)

.

The latest party, though, this one has Emma annoyed. She’s been up since 4 o’clock in the morning and she’s chased a perp across Brooklyn. Her feet ache and her eyelids are heavy as she slides her key into the lock and she flings her shoes across the room. It’s when she’s running a bath, dreaming about sinking into the bubbles with a glass of something (she hasn’t quite decided what just yet) that she hears the telltale sounds of furniture rearranging and music starting. 

She hadn’t realized the party was tonight, though admittedly her week has been more eventful than usual, complete with a car chase and a foot chase and some bail jumpers who were really  _really_  good at scaling fences. But now, of course, just as she’s sinking into the bubbles she remembers Ruby’s visit from two days ago.

"It’ll be the last one I have for a while, I promise," Ruby had said, her teeth worrying at her lower lip. 

(Emma had tried to notice the way her teeth left indentions on Ruby’s lips, tried not to think about Ruby’s lips at all.)

(She really didn’t succeed.)

Emma had told her of course she didn’t mind. 

And yet tonight, as Emma tried to wipe away the grime of the day, she became increasingly annoyed. But what was the protocol? She’d never told Ruby that sometimes it was hard to sleep with the sounds of the party floating across the hall, into her apartment. So it would hardly be decent of her to call the super and complain. 

.

In the end she decides to show up. Because, half an hour into her bath, the music got so loud that Emma found herself singing along to the song. (It was one of her favorites, one of those that she’d never admit to liking but she really  _really_  did.) And she realized that ‘if you can’t beat them, join them” was her best solution. So she threw on a dress and boots and she wound her half-wet hair into a bun. 

When she slides the door open, she finds Ruby in the middle of the living room dance floor, her dark hair flying wildly as she thrashes to the music. It’s a great song, and Emma finds her hips swaying as she walks around the place, pretty much a carbon copy of hers. (Ruby really has good taste in music, she thinks as she grabs a glass of wine from the kitchen). 

A hand clasps her shoulder and she jumps, almost spilling the wine down her front, when she’s confronted by a slightly tipsy Ruby who squeals, “Neighbor! You finally showed.”

"I did," Emma replies with the arch of a brow, her lips trying to escape into a smile. 

"Come dance with me, neighbor!" Ruby shouts and grabs her hand to drag her to the other room.

.

They dance all night, of course, until the the sky begins to lighten and the music slows into something softer. Emma likes the way Ruby’s hand finds her waist, her heart hammering against her chest as her fingers thread into the strands in Ruby’s hair, the long strands falling down her back. She likes the way Ruby’s lips brush against hers, tasting like wine and lipstick. They’re almost tentative, until Emma’s fingers tighten against Ruby’s back.

(And then they’re insistent, as they make their way to Ruby’s room, hands pushing clothes aside and legs stumbling until they laugh.)

.

(The answer is photographer, Emma discovers the next morning, when she wakes up to a smiling Ruby carrying her equipment out of her room. 

"Come join me, today," Ruby says with a smile as Emma stretches her limbs and her eyes seek out her shirt and pants tossed somewhere on the floor.

And so, with a brush of her lips against Ruby’s and a coffee in hand, she does.)


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> red swan - "Please listen to me-"

Ruby’s not sure how it happens that one can go from one hundred percent turned on, to one hundred percent angry at the drop of a hat. But here they are, Emma still sitting on the bed, cross-legged, her knit blanket wrapped around her.

(She can still hear the echoes of Emma’s moans in the room – the deep, desperate sound she makes right when she’s about to come – she can still hear the echoes of her own rapid heartbeat, thumping in her ears, pulsing across her body.)

Ruby paces the room, her bare feet slapping against the hardwood floors. “Please listen to me –” Her words cut off by the tightness in her throat.

She stops pacing and turns to face Emma, eyes pleading.

(Emma’s skin is still flushed red and Ruby watches as the blanket slides down Emma’s shoulder, exposing her smooth skin. Skin that she had pressed her mouth to in reverence moments earlier, tracing that same curve with her lips, as Emma’s hand skimmed along her legs, up-up-up.)

“Why didn’t you  _say_  anything?” Emma whispers, her questioning glance flickers between the twists of knit fabric in her hands and Ruby’s eyes. “The curse has been broken for  _weeks._ ”

“Emma,” Ruby says gently, “When was I supposed to say anything? After the wraith destroyed the town and we had to clean up? While we’re dealing with family reunions to organize? During the push for a recall election?”

(She watches as Emma takes a gulping breath and twists the fabric in her hands more tightly. The fabric that moments ago had been pushed aside by Emma’s restless legs, heels pressing into the bed for more leverage, more friction, more  _everything._ )

“We’ve been busy,” Ruby continues and she sits – tentatively – at the edge of the bed.

“I know,” Emma sighs. “But it was hard enough when you finally remembered who you are – and who my  _parents_  are.”

Ruby reaches her hand out and traces her fingers along Emma’s, until the other woman unfurls her fingers.

“And now this,” Emma says as she pulls her hand away.

Ruby’s heart constricts at the loss of the brief contact.

“It’s  _Graham_ ,” Emma continues, her voice shaking at his name. “You and him.  _Me_  and him,  _you and_ _me._  It’s so much  _messy._ ”

(Ruby’s eyes well with tears as she thinks about that brief moment – back in the Enchanted Forest – when she had met Graham. She remembers their brief and intense connection, as they tracked the woods to assist Snow with her search for routes out of the kingdom. She remembers how he wore his uniform stiffly and how his eyes flickered with heat when her hand brushed against his – and the sadness in his eyes when they parted ways. )

(She remembers the flutters in her stomach the same as with Emma, the immediate sense of rightness the same as with Emma. And she hope that she’s not destined to lose her, too.)

“And he’s gone now,” Ruby says, finishing Emma’s thought.

“And he’s gone now,” Emma repeats.

Ruby reaches for Emma again, this time framing the other woman’s face with her hands, her fingers sliding through the hair falling into her eyes and adding just enough pressure until Emma’s eyes meet hers.

She leans in and their lips cling briefly before Ruby pulls away and whispers against Emma’s lips, “Messy doesn’t mean it’s not worth  _trying._ ”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> red swan high school au.

Ruby is the kind of friend who has piercings along her entire ear and dyes red streaks through her hair on a whim. She’s the kind of friend who will intertwine their fingers as Emma leans back on the roof of Mary Margaret’s (her) house and stares up at the stars.

Ruby is the kind of friend who was Mary Margaret’s first, until Emma was placed with her parents.

.

She’s the kind of friend who isn’t just a friend.

.

When Emma first met Ruby, her hair was short and blue. She was thirteen and just spent time in juvie on an assault charge, even though the bastard at the group home had  _definitely_  had it coming. Now Emma has long blonde hair that Ruby likes to run her fingers through as she twists it into braids.

.

Ruby’s the kind of friend who stays up until 4 a.m. as they plot revenge on Neal, in the unlikely event that he ever shows his face in their town again and the kind of friend who helps Mary Margaret and David  _finally_  get together at the spring formal.

.

The first time Emma and Ruby kiss they are fifteen and it’s just  _practice_  and it feels nice but they giggle their way through it and don’t think about it again. The second time, they’re eighteen and Ruby kisses Emma softly as they are stretched out on the beach and it’s the time of year when summer begins to turn into fall and Mary Margaret and David are getting ready to go off to college and leave them both behind.

.

The third time they kiss is right after that, after Emma pulls away questioning and Ruby takes her hand and their fingers fall together so easily, so  _right_ , that Emma leans in again and they don’t stop until the sun falls beneath the horizon. 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> red swan + bartender au

Ruby is the customer who always leans over the bar when Emma mixes her drinks. She likes to steal maraschino cherries (or olives on occasion, though very rare, as she likes the way the cherries stain her lips.)

(Emma knows this because Ruby told her that one night at final call, the time of day when Emma loosens the short apron around her waist and sometimes lets the patrons buy her a drink.)

Ruby has taken on the challenge of finding old drinks that Emma doesn’t know how to make. Which, these days, isn’t too hard. The bar she tends has jumped aboard the whiskey cocktail train and has forgotten the old fashioned drinks.

(Well, besides the Old Fashioned, of course.)

(That’s the joke that Emma likes to tell sometimes when she gets home late and puts her feet up on the coffee table as Mary Margaret is waking up and readying herself for her teaching job.)

Ruby tells her this the first night that she buys Emma a drink. She orders a French 75 and tells Emma to pick her drink of choice. So while Ruby sips on her gin and champagne, Emma pours some whiskey neat into a tumbler. 

They clink glasses and Emma drains hers quickly, leaving Ruby with a little pout as she nibbles on a red, red cherry.

(Hardly even a fruit, anymore, Emma scoffs and Ruby says, “Yeah, but they make my lips red without reapplying my gloss.”)

Of course, she says this and Emma’s eyes are drawn downwards - and she dips a glance at Emma’s in return.

(Emma’s stomach gives a little flutter and she knows she’s in trouble. So of course she asks, “Closing out?”)

.

Its not until weeks later that she gets the nerve to ask Ruby if she wants to stick around.

(And in the end, it’s Ruby who really does the asking, with the way she dips her lashes and brushes her hand against Emma’s, the way her shirt rides down low as she bends across the bar and sneaks into Emma’s carefully aligned containers of fruits and olives.

She pops an olive into her mouth and, when Emma lifts her brow at that, she shrugs and says, “I’m in the mood for something with a little edge tonight.”) 

(Her lips taste salty, later, after Emma leads her into the apartment and presses Ruby against the door, their hands tangled in each other’s hair.)


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> follow up to red swan + bartender au

Emma’s hand reaches out to fill the space between their bodies, her fingers tangling in the dark sheets, as the early morning light bleeds into her room. Long dark hair spills across her pillows as her companion shifts in sleep and sighs. Usually Ruby is the morning person, having spent her life working mornings in her Grandmother’s diner, but today it’s Emma who is awake with the sun. 

(Ruby likes to wake her with the gentle slide of hands along skin, arm around her waist, as she nuzzles her way into the crook of Emma’s neck. Emma usually grumbles at the time as Ruby’s lips trace the sensitive skin at the nape of her neck, her fingers brushing Emma’s hair aside, while her other hand traces Emma’s hipbones, slipping under her cotton pants, wiping away grumbles, turning them into gasping breaths.)

Usually Emma goes to sleep as the sun comes out, with Ruby sometimes joining her in fast, desperate, drunken clutches, their voices shushing each other so as not to wake up Mary Margaret before her alarm blares at 5 A.M. But last night was different with their angry words and Ruby’s flounce from the bar, across the street, and up the stairs to Emma’s apartment.

(Their schedules had been off.

_God, Emma, you can’t just shut down like this._

And - 

 _Can’t you tell me what happened?_ )

Emma blinks, lying on her back and staring at the ceiling, the slow rotation of the fan making her eyes hurt, but thinking maybe she deserves the pain, deserves to feel dizzy and sick and deserves the pressure that builds behind her eyes. 

(Why can’t the past just stay in the past where it belongs and doesn’t threaten to emerge just when she has something good in her life?)

She’s going to have to tell Ruby at some point, tell her about the past and jail and Neal and the  _other_ thing. She’s going to have to tell Ruby that she never finished high school and ran away from a shitty life to a shittier situation and  _that’s_ why she may never know how to do  _this._ But this morning, she rolls over and wakes Ruby the way Ruby likes to wake her - her lips tasting sweet skin and whispering nonsense words until Ruby forgets how mad she was.

( _I love you,_ she thinks but doesn’t say.

And - 

 _I need you_.)

"I’ll play hooky today, if you do," Emma whispers to her, after.

Ruby laces their fingers together, tracing Emma’s hand with hers in constant motion. After a while she presses a kiss to their linked hands and nods, her lips forming a smile.


	9. let's raise the bar (and our cups to the stars)

Figuring out Ruby Lucas sometimes feels like those logic problems she used to learn back in school. Given that Ruby Lucas flirts with everyone, it follows that  _if_  Ruby Lucas flirts with Emma Swan, _then_ Emma Swan  _is_  everyone. Or in this case, maybe-probably-definitely nobody special. 

So when her roommate finds her in their kitchen, mixing herself another gin and tonic, Emma tries not to let her stomach flutter as Ruby’s arms wrap around her waist and her chin rest’s on Emma’s neck as she peaks over her shoulder. 

“Whatcha mixing?” Ruby asks, her voice low, lips brushing against Emma’s ear and she tries - oh she tries - to get her traitorous heartbeat under control.

“Practicing for work,” she mumbles under her breath as she mixes her ingredients into the shaker (gin and lime juice and a splash of simple syrup) and her arms work back and forth, jostling Ruby’s body away from hers, just slightly, just enough that she regains some balance. She pours the liquid in her tumbler and tops it off with just a splash tonic. 

Spinning around, she places the glass in Ruby’s hand and says, “Here taste this.”

As Ruby takes a sip, her bright red lipstick leaving its usual mark on her glass, Emma watches carefully, looking for any signs that the drink is good, bad, awesome, terrible.  _Anything._ Because she desperately wants to impress her boss this week. Especially if bartender is the highest peak that high school dropout Emma Swan can hope to achieve. 

Ruby’s eyes are bright as she places the glass on the counter and leans in to give Emma a quick, smacking kiss. 

“It’s perfect!” She shouts above the music and slides the glass over to Emma. “Now enjoy your drink you cocktail genius and then let’s dance!”

They’ve been throwing these themed parties for a year now, with Emma tending bar to practice her skills and Ruby sneaking leftover supplies from her party planning gig. They’d started out small, just Mary Margaret and David and some other friends of Ruby’s from college, but somehow they’ve expanded and tonight there’s upwards of fifty people in their tiny apartment. 

And suddenly, as the next upbeat track begins to play, all Emma wants to do is lose herself in the music and forget about Ruby and whatever confusion is brewing between them. There’s a party going on and there are hot men and beautiful women and so much bare skin showing with tonight’s underwear party, that Emma drains her drink (registering, of course, what she needs to fix for the next attempt) and she joins Ruby in the middle of the dance floor. 

She dances so long that she doesn’t really register who is who. There are limbs and hands and innocent wandering as song bleeds into song and she moves her hips and throws her head back. At one point she feels the soft hair of Killian’s chest and the way his hands linger on her waist and it sends the usual spark across her body, but she’s been there and done that - and as much as they work together as that sometimes friends, sometimes  _more,_ he’s not what she’s in the mood for tonight. 

Not when she can still feel the quick brush of Ruby’s lips against hers and the loud thudding of her heart when she’d seen Ruby saunter out of her room in the red lace corset for tonight’s party. 

And _especially_ not when she feels Ruby’s body brushing up against hers, grabbing her hand and pulling her away from Killian with a murmured, “You mind if I steal her away?” 

He must not mind too much because suddenly there are fingers threading through her hair and Ruby’s body, chest to chest and thigh to thigh in front of her - and Emma’s throat closes as she tries to swallow, tries to calm the butterflies that are sending every nerve over the edge. 

But all of that is nothing compared to what she feels next, as Ruby leans in close enough that their lips are almost touching and she whispers, “What are we waiting for?” 

It’s enough for Emma’s hands to reach out and grab Ruby’s hips as she closes the space between them and she doesn’t answer with words because she’s bursting with the clarity of knowing - knowing that Ruby feels this too, that she’s not alone. Knowing that she’ll taste like lime and gin and lipstick. Knowing that suddenly everything in the world will feel  _right._


End file.
